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March 30, 2012

The Final Four is where athletic directors come to find their new head coaches and assistant coaches come to find better opportunities.

Two Ohio State assistants, Jeff Boals and Dave Dickerson, have been the subject of speculation this week about their candidacy for open head coaching jobs.

Boals, an Ohio University graduate, is said to be a prime candidate there to replace another former OSU assistant, John Groce, who left for Illinois this week after leading the Bobcats to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

"Anytime your alma mater pops up, you'd definitely be interested," Boals said in the Buckeyes' locker room after their open practice in the Superdome today.
But for now, he added, "I’m focused on this weekend and trying to win a national championship for Ohio State. Hopefully we’re cutting down the nets on Monday and we’ll go from there."

Dickerson, head coach at Tulane for five seasons before working the past two at Ohio State, has received inquiries from a number of schools with vacancies, according to a team source, including Miami University, Duquesne and Samford.

South Carolina and Winthrop also reached out to him but have since filled their openings.

March 27, 2012

Ohio State's preeminent sports, football and men's basketball, will be battleships passing in the afternoon Wednesday. Shortly after the football team reports for the first day of spring practice under new coach Urban Meyer, the men's basketball team will leave the Schottenstein Center and bus down High Street on its way to Port Columbus and a chartered flight to the Final Four in New Orleans.

The athletic department has emailed media to notify fans to line High Street between Woodruff Ave. and 11th Street between 5:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., when the Buckeyes' bus is expected to roll by.

March 25, 2012

A limited number of all-session tickets for the Final Four and NCAA championship game will be made available via a lottery through the Ohio State athletics ticket office. Semifinal games are Saturday and the championship game April 2 in the Superdome.

The lottery begins today for men's basketball season ticket holders, seat license holders and suite holders, and Ohio State faculty and staff who purchased regular-season season tickets.

Public season ticket holders, seat license holders and suite holders may enter the lottery for as many as six all-session tickets. Each faculty/staff season ticket holder may enter the lottery for as many as four all-session tickets.

All entries must be submitted by 4 p.m. Monday. Lottery entries will be accepted online only at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com (click TICKETS). Those eligible for the lottery should have received information on it, including ticket prices, via email this morning.

March 22, 2012

Ohio State sophomore Jordan Sibert grew up in Cincinnati and was a Bearcats fan.

"I loved watching Kenyon Martin and (before him) Nick Van Exel, the different players that came through there," Sibert said. "UC’s right around the corner from my grandmother’s house, so just being able to be around that environment my whole life, I used to love it."

He, like other Cincinnati fans, wanted to see the Bearcats and Buckeyes play.

"UC played Xavier, played other Ohio schools, but you never got to see that matchup," he said. "It’s really good to finally see it."

Sibert, an All-Ohio high school player at Cincinnati Princeton, said he was recruited by Cincinnati and Xavier but chose Ohio State in part to stay together with AAU teammates Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft and J.D. Weatherspoon.

"And I wanted to get out of Cincinnati, just get away from home," he said. "Ohio State was a good fit that was far away but still close enough at the same time."

March 20, 2012

Ohio Christian University in Circleville will announce former Ohio State guard Tony Stockman as its new basketball coach this afternoon, according to a school news release.

Stockman, who played two seasons at Ohio State after transferring from Clemson, graduated in 2005 and played professionally overseas until this year.

He takes over an Ohio Christian program that finished 27-10 this season and finished third in the National Christian College Athletic Association tournament.

Stockman, from Medina, shared the Ohio Mr. Basketball award in 2000 and played two seasons at Clemson before transferring to Ohio State in 2002. After sitting out a year, he played one season for former coach Jim O'Brien and one for current coach Thad Matta.

March 18, 2012

Deshaun Thomas, who scored 13 points in a row en route to 31 in Ohio State's win over Loyola (Md.), got hot again late in the first half today and scored 10 straight points, helping the Buckeyes rally from a seven-point deficit to a two-point halftime lead.

Lost in his barrage was the play on defense of freshmen Amir Williams and Shannon Scott off the bench. Scott checked in with 7:05 to play and had a steal on Gonzaga's third possession after he entered. Williams came in with four minutes left and had a blocked shot and forced a turnover when his picture-perfect post defense gave his teammates time to dig down on backup center Sam Dower for force him to cough up the ball.

Aaron Craft said, "It helps a lot with (their) confidence . . . and that's comforting for everyone else," Aaron Craft said. "If we need that in the future, we have confidence they're going to go in and do what they did tonight."

March 17, 2012

PITTSBURGH _ With the array of scorers Ohio State can put on the court, its grit often gets lost aside from the black eyes and floor burns that are Aaron Craft’s badges of honor.

But when they are so inclined, the Buckeyes can defend. The efficiency statistics said it on paper all season. They proved it on the floor yesterday when they had to.

Deadlocked with Gonzaga with four minutes left and a berth in the NCAA Sweet 16 on the line, the Buckeyes stopped the Bulldogs from scoring on five consecutive possessions, rebuilt a seven-point lead on the shoulders of Jared Sullinger and nursed it to the finish of a 73-66 victory in Consol Energy Center.

The victory sent Ohio State (29-7), the second seed in the East, to a regional semifinal Thursday in Boston, where it will face the winner of a game tonight between Cincinnati and Florida State.

“I think the biggest thing we had down the stretch was activity with purpose,” coach Thad Matta said.

"The press doesn't concern me as much as if we do what we're supposed to do to break the press. That was the problem (Thursday) night. We got a little bit complacent against it. Guys didn't go to the spots where they were supposed to go. When we did, we shot layups or wide-open shots at the other end.

"If a team wants to press us, our mentality is, 'Please do, put two on the ball, we'll attack you at the other end, hopefully with numbers.'

"Those are things we've looked at, saying, 'Where are you supposed to be? Why aren't you there?' Then showing them, 'Hey, when we are where we're supposed to be to break the press, good things happen to us.'"

March 16, 2012

Before Deshaun Thomas took over the game against Loyola in the second half, Jared Sullinger looked as if he would be the man last night. He scored the Buckeyes' first six points and eight of their first 15 but had four the rest of the game.

Loyola blocked eight shots in the game, five by Sullinger, and brought more help against him, especially after center Shane Walker incurred foul trouble.
Sullinger blamed himself.

"It was more mental than physical," he said. "I think I should have just read the defense a little bit better. There were a lot of times I was trying to force a shot (and) all I had to do was take the first one. But I was trying to get closer to the basket.

"But they did a pretty good job of containing me and (keeping) a lot of bodies on me."

March 15, 2012

- Given the scare North Carolina Asheville put in top-seeded Syracuse today, you should know this: the last time a No.15 seed played in the NCAA Tournament in Pittsburgh, in 1997, Coppin State upset second-seeded South Carolina and nearly advanced to the Sweet 16, losing by a point to Texas in the second round.
Coppin State is, like Loyola, from Baltimore.

"Sixteen-one is not going to happen. Fifteen-two is going to happen once every three or four years," said Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos, whose team is the 15th seed in the East Region.

Actually, it has happened four times since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985, and not since 2001.

"I don't see us as a long shot," Patsos said. "It's 40 minutes. It's 10 four-minute segments. We have to try to win six of those segments.